Dog photos where nose is sharp and eyes go soft

[threedogmom]

I took pics with my nikon 50 mm f 1.8 and was shooting a dog close up. The nose was so sharp but the

eyes were soft. How can I get the eyes to be sharper?

[david_dorcich1]

You need to either focus on the eyes instead of the nose, and you might need a smaller aperture to increase dof to get the entire head in focus.

[david_halterman]

With such a large aperture (I'm assuming you were shooting at or around 1.8) your plane of

focus is so shallow that its producing this effect. Try opening the lens up a bit, play with

your DOF button until the proper depth is achieved. Maybe 2 or 3 stops, depending on the

length of your dogs snout.

[paul_ferrante]

Focus on the eyes, not the nose. Also, try using a longer lens and stand back some.

[bueh]

Simply put the focus (and <abbr title="depth-of-field">DOF</abbr>) on the eyes, not the nose. If you did this, your camera/lens may have front-focusing issues.

[GerrySiegel]

You shoot farther back, not so close to the muzzle. Then you just crop the closeup from the larger picture in any digital editing program.

Don't worry about losing quality. Otherwise you have to get the long muzzle dogs a little less than straight on, try more of a 45 angle. (If you stand back a ways,it also avoids you getting a wiff of doggie breath... (LOL). Alternative is to own a Pekinese...But truly you can get the dog looking at you and still do what you want.<div></div>

[phule]

[[Try opening the lens up a bit]]

 

Certainly you mean the exact opposite of this, right Dave?

[david_halterman]

Doh...yes...stop the lens down, not open it up...Certainly

[GerrySiegel]

Here is one more example,laura:

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/687389

 

If you even shoot people up close with a 50mm lens you have the same kind of situation you describe. Not always,but often enough.

And added problem of distortion of perspective when photo is viewed from a more "normal" distance. Do you see what I am saying, I trust?

 

I do fair amount with dog as my portfolio will reveal.

Even if you close the lens down you aren't home free. And you usually cannot shoot that way in dim natural light.

Now you COULD think about getting a teleconverter, or even a portrait lens to supplement the lens you have, it wont cure but might help. I suggest a normal to moderate telephoto zoom if you care. Good luck.

[evan_goulet]

Wikipedia actually has a couple of good entries on the relationship of F-number to actual aperture size, depth-of-field, and exposure. I would suggest using these as jumping-off points to start understanding these important relationships. Having a full understanding (or even a rudimentary understanding) will help you create on film/sensor what your mind intends.<P>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_number">F-Number</a><P><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field">Depth-of-Field</a><P><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed">Shutter Speed</a>

[GerrySiegel]

Thanks Evan for the links. Informative. That DOF article gets me whoozy tho. Wowzer and double wowzer. :-)...Yeah, laura b, you may have to do some reading to understand the whys of what happened. You had some quick options presented. Try them out. I now depart this thread and judge you( laura) gained something. Bye.

[JDMvW]

Auto focus is always dumber than you are. Somehow it just doesn't always figure out what you wanted to be in focus or not. Close up work is especially a problem because depth of field is so shallow up close (see Evan's sites).<div></div>

[threedogmom]

thanks guys for all your great insight!

[GerrySiegel]

Below, shot was close, more than yours up top,laura. Flash helped here to get more light on the situation. I keep recalling some joker who said that it is weird to buy a fancy camera and lights and stuff to shoot our pets. I disagree. Animals are with us for a short enough time as it is and gives us a lot to remember. Loyalty can't be bought like that, for a few treats and a rub behind the ears..a casual shot,but I like to do a fancy one sometimes. You will notice that the eyes and nose are fairly sharp but the ears go soft. That is because I used focus by manual mode and chose my point. In this case I recall it was the brown eyes.<div></div>

[jeremyhung]

Have your focus points set manually :)